GUNDAM AND THE LOVE OF UNIVERSAL CENTURY

HOBBY TIME - BANDAI GUNDAM EXCEED MODEL ZAKU HEAD 2 CUSTOM!

It's not often I get to do Gundam - they're pretty involved, but when I saw these Gundam Exceed Zaku 2 heads the other day, it seemed like a bit of cheap fun! You can pick them up for a few dollars (at least overseas, in Australia they are around $10) so why the Hell not!?This guy was painted with a mix of GW paints, and that's the Death Guard Green for the base colour - I wonder if it's so perfect on purpose? He is also extensively weathered, with GW washes for rust and then 4B pencil for the paint ships. This heavily weathered look was inspired by MS 8th Team which takes place on earth and involves urban and jungle warfare - a perfect way to get paint chips! The rust is only in a few places as it seemed a bit heavy for the scale. Scale is a major problem I have with GW weathered vehicles. On something that scale you would be unlikely to see the heavy paint chipping or orange rust we're seeing in the current meta, but for something this scale (1/35 or larger) it would be more obvious. Anyway, that's just my theory. So very happy with this for a first go especially with it only take a couple day days to do.

The base model is, as I said above, a Gashapon toy, that in Japan you would probably get at a vending machine or on the counter of a local shop. They start off as a ball, that breaks apart and you get the multi-part toy inside. You could just leave it like that.. or go nuts and do this instead!! Hahaha.

Gundam Build Fighters & Team Try Fighters Build Burning Gundam Review

If you're a fan of Gundam, then you have to check out the Gundam Build Fighters series! Personally I preferred the first series(Gundam Build Fighters), but the second one (Gundam Build Fighters Try) is okay, a little bit kiddie, but still well done and includes some great looking Mobile Suits.The first Bandai kit releases were small, but with the introduction of the second series, there are tonnes of kits hitting the shelves!If you're a Gundam fan, the great news about Gundam Build Fighters is you see Mobile Suits from right across the Gundam Universe - Universal Century or not - go up against each other in combat!But it's not just the combat between Mobile Suits, there's also the story of enthusiastic Gunpla builders finding, converting and assembling their Mobile Suits with just the same kind of seal you would when you're building something you're excited about. It's a really great concept executed well!

Review

Right - so after that long preamble - what is the Bandai Team Try Fighters Burning Gundam like?This is the first Gundam kit I have built since my Gunpla 2014 entry, the Bandai Real Grade Gundam GP01 Zephyranthes - a beautifully detailed kit which although the same scale (1/144) has so much more complexity to it, as do all Real Grade kits.The Bandai Team Try Fighters Burning Gundam is a High Grade kit, so very articulate but ultimately quite simple to build. From start to finish this took me 3 hours. I did the paint applications while still on the sprue, clipped then assembled and some touch ups and it was done.This is the traditional mass construction method favoured by Japanese collectors.The kit itself was straight forward with the pieces designed to have no join lines showing on the facings of limbs or the body (apart from the head unfortunately). This is a relatively new thing and amazing in terms of eliminating the paint, build, sand, paint repeat scenario of years ago. This is genius! The movement on the kit is very good, but the shoulder do pop out of the torso a lot which limits movement to the extreme positions.There are no weapons in the set, just a whole lot of flames as per the character. Have a look at Real Grade and High Grade side by side...

Despite being the same scale, the level of detail on the Real Grade (left) is amazing!I built mine with the orange "flaming" elements, but you can use the more inert blue ones if you prefer! The construction is such that you can also sway them easily if you don't glue the front of the knees of the shoulder pieces in.-The High Grade Bandai Team Try Fighters Burning Gundam is a fun kit. I really like the results and if you're looking for a fun kit to build on a rainy weekend or something to start off with. this is a good one.

March 2015

Gunpla - we won... kind of...

Ok - it's equal eighth, but it's my first entry and I only had 9 days to do it, so not too shabby.And look, I got an exclusive Gundam Builder World Championship kit... cool!Geek-factor = high!!

Gunpla - for the love of gundam kits

Like to make models kits?Like big robots with big guns?A fan of articulation?Well Gundam kits are for you!And when you get really good you can enter the Gunpla (Gundam Plastic) World Cup.The Australian league is held in August each year in Sydney, then the winner goes on to challenge the other winners from around the world in Japan around Christmas time.I'm thinking this might be my year to enter - not just to work out which kit to buy...-Want to know more?Check this out...

Gundam came to me as the movie Char's Counterattack.Now though a great film, it is in the middle of everything and a tad confusing...

I then saw the Stardust Memory OVA - which is even better and I heartily recommend!

My friend Cedric was a brilliant guide to this. Having grown up in Indonesia, he had seen them and his keen interest in anime lead him to know more than a fledgling like me!

These original purchases were all initially from the local Asian DVD store, mostly DVD rips with dodgy subtitles as the titles weren't available in Australia.

Gundam MS 08th Team was my last dodgy DVD and I was incredibly lucky that is was a straight DVD rip from the US version (this wasn't always the case).The dodgiest copy I got was for Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket , still my least favourite of the Gundam UC series.

Oh, "UC - what's that?" you say? Well Gundam is a large universe with different timelines and alternative universes - UC stands for the standard timeline "Universal Century".Frankly I only watch the UC series. The alternate timelines tend to be very childish and revolve around petty meaningless stories.

From the very start I thought the show was a revelation. The animation was great, the story was (unusually for Gundam) small scale with character driven-stories weaving masterfully into the larger story of that timeline. You were seeing world-changing events around these smaller stories.

If it's your first Gundam experience or you've just got into it, Gundam MS 08th Team is a great way to see a smaller story in a time of war.

All the Gundam UC series are now available from Madman in Australia with both Japanese and English versions. The US versions can be somewhat quality sporadic with the voice-over talent really not matching the Japanese ones at all - and I generally like a good dub!

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In a time before 40k, there was a band of men and women who took part in gaming without the corporate sensibilities of today. Take a step back with us and also look upon the future through wizened eyes and curious ponderings of The Beardy Hammer!